Istanbul (Eyewitness Travel Guides) (Turtleback)

by DK Publishing (Author) "Istanbul is a frenetic city with a wealth of culture, history and nightlife..." (more)
Key Phrases: spice bazaar, special licence, new mosque, Golden Horn, Grand Bazaar, Haghia Sophia (more...)

Product Details

• Turtleback: 280 pages
• Publisher: DK Travel; Rev Upd edition (January 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756625017
• ISBN-13: 978-0756625016
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 4.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,873 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #2 in	Books > Travel > Asia > Turkey > Istanbul
  #49 in	Books > Travel > Guidebook Series > Eyewitness

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best general purpose guide, March 31, 2007

By	Diego Banducci (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Length:: 0:19 Mins

If you're only going to buy one guide to Istanbul, this is the one.

The principal reason is that Istanbul is a city of great architecture, which D-K's cut-away diagrams ideally showcase. You can quickly determine where you are within a building and which features you have not yet seen.

For us, the most enjoyable attraction in Istanbul was the ferry ride up the Bosphorus, which ends at a charming village near the Black Sea with excellent restaurants where you have lunch before returning. There are commercial tourist boats that make this trip, but we much preferred the public ferry that cost approx. $10 round-trip -- one of the great travel bargains of the world. The discussion about it in this guide is quite good.

Some things not covered in the book:

* When we asked the concierge at our hotel for the best place to change money, he said "The Grand Bazaar, no question." Indeed. In addition to a narrow spread between buy and sell, there is no commission (other commercial money-lenders not only charge a large spread, but usually tack on a 4% commission). The local merchants all use the money-changers there, and according to the concierge, exchange rates for the entire country are set there. Alternatively, you can use ATMs, which appear to be ubiquitous.

* Among the best bargains in the Grand Bazaar are gold and silver, which are sold by weight with a reasonable mark-up, as opposed to the 400% markups commonly charged by American jewelers. Each jeweler has a gram scale where he weighs any given piece, and then prices it accordingly, based upon the price of gold that morning. The gold, by the way, appears to universally be 22 karat, worked in India. Because Indian workers are paid $15 per month, labor is not a material element in the price. A jeweler I spoke with priced a bracelet (pre-bargaining) at $650, when the price of the gold alone was $525. He was highly competent and straightforward in answering my questions, as were most of the merchants I dealt with. Similar savings seem to be available on diamond jewelry, although I did not consider myself competent to judge the quality of the stones and thus, did not buy anything.

* Rug merchants appear to be somewhat less reputable and certainly more insistent (one becomes tired of hearing their ubiquitous "hallo"). If they ask which hotel you're staying in or when you're leaving, simply respond "Why do you want to know?" One rug merchant, who is married to an American woman and is himself quite americanized told me that many of the merchants import rugs from China and then represent them as being from Turkey or Iran. As with diamonds, it pays to know what you're buying.

* Cab drivers are often dishonest. Know how much you should pay for a given trip and carry a lot of small bills and coins, so that you can pay exactly. Do not expect change. You may receive old lira (the Turkish lira was steeply devalued several years ago). Make sure the driver starts the meter when you get into the cab. The rate after midnight is 50% greater than before. The meters state fares in Turkish lira, but drivers may try to charge you in dollars or Euros; state clearly that you will pay them in lira when you get into the cab and demand that they turn on the meter. Still, the (honest) rates are quite reasonable, especially since tips are not expected.

* The food is excellent, good ingredients and wonderful spices. Explore or ask your concierge. The best place we found, on the advice of our concierge, was the Magnaura Cafe Restaurant at Akbiyik No. 27 in Sultanhamet, tel: [phone], three blocks from the Haja Sofia. UPDATE 3/09: Better yet, just across the street the Albura Kathisma Cafe, Yeni Akbiyik Cad. No. 26 Sultanhamet. This street is full of good, reasonably priced, restaurants.

* Be prepared to awaken at 6:00 am with the Call to Prayer, which is blasted from loudspeakers on the minarets of the mosques. It doesn't last long, but it will awaken you. I was not able to sleep through it, a problem that I rarely encounter. A video of the Call to Prayer, taken from the park between Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque, is included in this review (Be sure to turn up the sound).

* Three must-sees that we regret having missed: (1) the Chora Church, (2) the Palace Cistern, and (3) the old city walls.

UPDATE [3/09] On a second trip we visited all three; well worth the effort. Additional recommendations: (1) the Spice Market (2) Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque, a lovely smaller mosque near the Blue Mosque with beautiful tiles, and (3) the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (aka the Little Hagia Sofiya), now a mosque and one of the most calming places of worship I've ever been in.

All things considered, it's a great city.

For a really useful pocket-sized guide: Top 10 Istanbul (EYEWITNESS TOP 10 TRAVEL GUIDE)

For a less functional but more beautiful and sophisticated guide, try Knopf Guide: Istanbul (Knopf Guides Istanbul and Northwest Turkey)

Visitors with a serious interest in the city's many historic sites will enjoy Imperial Istanbul: A Traveller's Guide: Includes Iznik, Bursa and Edirne by Jane Taylor. Not only is Ms. Taylor a knowledgeable historian, she also frequently displays her wonderfully dry British sense of humor. While not promoted as such, the book can easily serve as a walking guide to the city.

For a more Nuts N' Bolts tour guide on navigating the city on foot: Rick Steves' Istanbul (Rick Steves)

Recommended reading: John Freely's Istanbul

Recommended viewing: Byzantium: The Lost Empire, Topkapi, the Supercities VHS tape Istanbul], and the Teaching Company course The World of Byzantium-The Great Courses (24 lectures, 30 minutes/lecture)(6 VHS TAPES)

DVD to avoid: Globe Trekker: Turkey

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative and easy to read, May 14, 2007

By	Nina "Happily Unmarried Ever After" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This is one of the best guide books I have ever read! SO easy to leaf through it and find exactly what one is looking for. The maps are well drawn and easy to navigate, and the photograph make the whole experience complete. I loved most the chapter on foods and drinks to be tasted in Istanbul. Will be a great guide to take along on my trip there.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent giude, July 13, 2007

By	Alberto Vargas (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I had never used this series of guidebooks before, so I did not know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised during my recent visit to Istanbul in June of 2007.

The main selling points of these DK guides are the superior maps and illustrations of tourist attractions. Major museums, mosques and palaces are shown in detail, with drawings and photos of the interior and exterior, as well as nicely illustrated historical tidbits. For doing the touristy things like visiting major attractions and taking pictures, this guide is great.

I am not sure how good this guide is when it comes to restaurants and nightlife. I did not explore that side of Istanbul as much, and what I saw did not impress me much.

Overall, I think I would have preferred a guide geared more towards active young people with a slightly cynical edge - this guide seemed to present everything as pretty and somewhat sterile. From what I saw, Istanbul definitely has an interesting culture that this guide did not fully capture.

Overall, good guidebook, and highly recommended. Read it ahead of time to know where the main sites and activities that interest you are located. Then do some more research online for good hotels to stay in - online reviews are more up to date.